Ever since the creation of baseball in England in the 18th century, and later the advent of softball, the sports of baseball and softball have been games of everlasting appeal to athletes of all levels and ages. From the first hit in a T-ball league, to casual games in an old-timer league, these sports capture the attention of athletes for many generations. The appeal of these classic sports can be seen worldwide as both baseball and softball are loved by athletes in all regions, including Asia, South America, Europe, and North America. As with many popular sports, the increased interest by athletes has resulted in an intense focus and reliance upon performance sports equipment. Baseball or softball athletes at every competitive level are dependent upon their equipment, and, therefore, athletes must be able to easily store, transport, and access their equipment before, during, and after a game or practice.
Typically, baseball and softball athletes utilize athletic equipment bags to transport gear, including bats, balls, catching gloves, batting gloves, uniforms, caps, protective guards, athletic shoes (cleats or spikes), helmets, glasses, and towels. Athletic equipment bags are generally made of lightweight and flexible materials that provide a functional and attractive means of storing, transporting, and accessing the described athletic equipment.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,732,863 to Speck discloses a baseball/softball equipment bag having inner compartments for storing particular types of equipment. More particularly, the bag disclosed in Speck provides a bat compartment for storing bats. While suitable for its intended purposes, the bat compartment significantly limits athletes by requiring them to manage the entire athletic equipment bag when inserting or removing a bat. It is often difficult for the athlete to overcome the cumbersome nature of the weighty and bulky bag, while attempting to gain access to the bat compartment and then manage the removal or insertion of a bat.
Some athletic equipment bags, such as the one in Speck, enable the athlete to use fence clips to hang the athletic equipment bag in the vertical position to allow more convenient access during a game. While suitable for its intended purposes, it is often difficult or undesired to constantly remove or insert large and heavy bats from the general equipment storage area that is the athletic equipment bag. For this reason and many others, athletes neglect to store the bats, and, consequently, bats are often left randomly about the team playing area, such as the dugout and on-deck circle. This creates a significant problem for athletes, as loose bats on the ground are a hazard and can often result in penalties, or even injuries, during the game. It is important to keep the base running area, batter's box, and on-deck circle clear of any loose bats to prevent an athlete from tripping over a bat. Loose bats can lead to serious injuries when errantly contacted during play.
In addition to restricting bat storage to the athletic equipment bag, most conventional athletic equipment bags provide a single large storage compartment for the bats. When stored in this large storage compartment, the bats often come into contact during transport, sometimes scratching and marking the bats and almost always clanging together during transport to create a great deal of unwanted noise.
Baseball and softball present unique problems to athletes in that they require athletes to change sports equipment and attire at every change of offense possession in the game. When athletes are on offense, they will normally need to quickly access a bat when it is their turn to bat. When they switch to defense, the athletes will need to quickly store their bat in exchange for a hat and baseball or softball catching glove. All of this rapid and repetitive changing of equipment makes it extremely critical that athletes be able to quickly, easily, and efficiently access and store their sports equipment.
It is advantageous for the athlete to have the most convenient and practical manner in which to store baseball or softball bats before, during, and after a game or practice. There is a continuing need for an improved bat access and storage device, which facilitates easier and more efficient storage, access, and transport of baseball and softball equipment, especially bats.